WEEK 11: BILLS 24 CHARGERS 54 (LOSS)

Imagine the Bills’ veterans, embarrassed by the 30-point loss to the Chargers, flying through the night to get back to frosty Buffalo, wondering why Nathan “Five Picks” Peterman was making his first NFL start in a game crucial to the Bills’ playoff hopes. Imagine coach Sean McDermott, who made the call to bench Tyrod Taylor for Peterman, staring daggers at the defense for allowing eight scoring drives—albeit some on short fields after Peterman turnovers.

The Bills, after back-to-back 37-point and 30-point losses, are a mess, and apparently doomed to miss the playoffs again, as they have in every season since the turn of the century. They’ve lost to New Orleans 47-10 and to the Chargers 54-24.

Peterman, the 171st pick in the draft last April, did complete one more pass than he had intercepted. He was six of 14 for 66 yards, no touchdowns and five picks. “I don’t regret my decision,” an unbowed McDermott said after the loss Sunday. “I regret the result. This is in part about winning now and in part about winning in the future.”

Translation: Tyrod Taylor’s not going to be our quarterback in 2018 … The draft has some potentially good quarterbacks in 2018 whom we might want … We have four selections in the first two rounds of the draft including our own, and we could certainly package some picks to move up if we love one of these college guys … and it would be good to find out if Peterman is going to be a part of our future or not in the next six weeks.